Right, think of the relentlessly positive things that happened today. I have finished planting 51 Pennisetum Alopecuroides grasses in the bank above the pool. Poor little things do look forlorn right now. But they have had a soaking of water and hopefully they will survive the next ten days. I have sowed two long rows of carrots in the last little quadrant of the  potato bed: Crème de Lite, Yellowstone, and Sugarsnax. I left a row in between for the marigold Red Brocade which are germinating in a seed tray as I type.

I have been to Gamm Vert and bought a few bamboo canes for the climbing French beans (had to order a dozen as they only had three in stock) as well as some more potting mix for the flower seeds that are to come.

It was market day today so Vernoux was positively animated; as was our favourite baker’s wife. So that was great. But the rest of the days seems to have consisted of momentous struggles with hoses and connectors and water and almost sobbing with frustration at my failure to achieve. We have one tap for the entire property. We have one long hose. One hundred feet of heavy cheery yellow material that has to be hauled about to reach the new parts of the garden that I have planted. Except it doesn’t reach. I need fifty more feet. I found the hose. I found a positive cornucopia of connectors and hose accoutrements. But not one fits. I had leaks and gushing uncouplings, and a soaking and still didn’t manage to water where I needed.

I stomped in for a quick lunch and went up to the shed to calm down. So now I have joined the ranks of Those Who Need to Hide in a Shed. I sowed Persicaria Bistorta seeds from the RHS box of tricks. So too Gaura and Geranium Summer Snow. Then did a few more Purpees Golden Globe beetroot and a large tray of mizuna lettuce.

I have plenty of miscanthus sinensis  thanks to picking up ten plants from the plant nursery in the Drôme. These went into the new bed at the entrance to the Calabert. It is to be the start of our mini wildflower garden. It’s probably not the best spot for them; but they can’t just sit and sulk in their pots and dry out. So this is their bed this year.

I couldn’t resist sowing a bit more of the pillow case load of miscanthus I have from the plants in the courtyard in London. Naturally there was a light breeze blowing through the gaps in the shed as I did it. So who knows where this lovely miscanthus grass will turn up next.

With a long afternoon of sunshine I then planted out the Nepeta Six Hills Giant plants that were frankly gasping in their pots. They may or may not line the path of the Shade Garden. I just have to see what sort of canopy the pruned chestnut will now throw. By my calculations they should be in good sunshine for most of the day. But there is a small cherry lurking nearby and it may give a bit of shade too.

I had a few Pennisetums left over from the massive wall of grasses, so I wheeled the barrow down to the terrace below the pool and hoiked into the barrow the eleven eragrostis curvula plants which Andrew kindly found for me at his local market. Very handsome beasts they are too and have good naturalising properties. (Well, some may call them thugs, but that is the effect I am hoping for.)

The lower terrace has runnels from water flowing down the mountain side in the autumn storms. And I would dearly love to dump a few cubic metres of topsoil in behind the wall to build up its level. But I don’t have it, so I have bravely (or foolishly) planted the fast growing grasses in the bank where they may be washed away next flood. Or will valiantly slow down the erosion with their roots.

I was quite pleased with the plants once they were in. But then cast my gaze up the wall and into the distance to the end. Blimey, it’s going to take about 80 more plants to finish the whole terrace. And I have ordered 150 for the top bank but not the lower one. I had thought to put miscanthus down there (there are those ten that just a few hours earlier went into a temporary bed). But I don’t feel there is any point in madly mixing up the grasses. The best effect, I think, will come from a mass planting of just the Pennisetums. And the miscanthus are rather upright and brutish. But I can always change my mind. Thank goodness grasses are tolerant of amateur gardeners.

And that’s it for this tranche of gardening. I have the vegetables in and plenty to take back. I have just planted all the stipas that overwintered in the front of the potting shed. This is fast becoming a trial bed again. But at least they are better here than in pots inside. The weather is warming up and I don’t relish coming back to crisp cadavers.

And can concentrate next trip on planting the bank above the pool and finally sorting the watering. And this time without tantrums and turning the Ardèche air blue.

Now here’s a treat. And you guessed it, this garden isn’t mine. Went on a day trip to Andrew’s exquisite cutting garden at his beautiful farm further south in the Ardèche. It made me daydream all the way back home. And he very generously gave me some day lilies which have gone into some rich soil at the back of my potting shed, a huge clump of purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea) which I have planted near the Calabert in a prominent spot. And the tulips are in a vase reminding me what a special day I had. Joy all round.

Here’s a typical tale. I needed to find spare hoses to fill up the clean but empty water butts up at the potting shed. So I went down to one of the cellars to look for them as I couldn’t remember where we stored them last autumn. Instead I noticed that there is only one pallet of wood on the floor of the cellar and plenty of room for more. Hmm, I thought, wouldn’t it be great to move the three that are propped up rather unattractively outside my potting shed and get them out of the way. I really ought to bring them down. Hoses forgotten, I trudged back through the barn and positioned the wheel barrow half way up the path so I could carry them back with care. (The path has a large rocky outcrop half way up so I can’t get the barrow all the way.)

But no, I thought, stick to your original task. So I abandoned the wheel barrow mid path and went in search of the hoses again. They were up at the top potager, a place I haven’t really visited since a quick inspection on Sunday. Goodness look at those weeds poking out of the asparagus bed. I’ll just pull a few while I’m up here. Then I decided to give all the raspberries and rhubarb a good watering while I was here. But the watering can was in the potting shed. Down the chestnut steps then up, and watered like mad.

Back with an armful of the hoses down to the lawn to try and link them up. Forgot the connector box of tricks up at the shed. Up I went again. Suddenly realised that I had really planned to pot up the mint as the roots were sprouting in their pots. Then as I moved the mint I saw that the verbena bonariensis needed sorting too. That freed up space on the table for more vegetable seedlings so I sowed more corn. And then found the cleome seeds that I had brought up meaning to sow them too. They never germinate (well my success rate is about 10 per cent) so I have to overdo the sowing in the wild hope I get some lovely plants. A snow storm blew up as I potted up the clematis but it didn’t rain. So back to the hoses again to try and get the water up to the original water butts beside the shed. Why this isn’t really gardening I thought to myself; it’s just Alzheimer’s with exercise.

And to punish myself for such erratic habits I planted out all the potatoes. Belle de Fontenay, Charlotte and Pink Fir Apple. Back breaking. Boring, but at least I didn’t have to put down any fabric first. I intend to dump the lawn clippings between the rows to keep down the weeds. And if they get too weedy, well hell, it’s just potatoes, they will cope.

Had a busy morning shovelling manure at the horse stables. Jean Daniel had kindly put aside a car boot full of horse manure for next year’s vegetable bed. I have made two little areas for them; one near the shed (well down wind) and another up at the top potager where they will be put to use in the raspberries.

Back at the shed I planted out all the jostaberries that I had struck last year and the year before. Year one and year twos and they look fine. They are actually a gift for Nicolas as we have so many. But I will build up more stocks for later years.

As I was planting near that side of the garden I decided to clean out the four water butts – goodness knows why, I had promised to only do work that involves getting plants out of the potting shed and into the ground today. But needs must and the butts need to be ready for the next rain – whenever that is.

Then down to potager with all the kit. Weedproof fabric, pegs, broad bean seedlings, peas in quantity and a good fork and rake. Having the purple sprouting broccoli in the way doesn’t help with the design. Let alone the physical barrier they make. But they are only just coming into glorious growth and I don’t dare do anything to them now after waiting almost a year for their purple sprouts.

I had planned on putting more of the scarce green weedproof fabric. But I don’t have enough. Besides it’s way too wide. We need to eat the cabbage first before I can clear the whole bed.

In the blazing sunshine I put in the broad beans and peas and even managed to get in two rows each of sweet peas. They are under cloches right now as Daisy has appeared last night with another small deer in tow – and I haven’t yet determined its eating habits. Daisy had a predilection for salad and silver beet. But last year left the beans and peas alone. They look so juicy I have wisely put them under the cloches for now. Until I get the stakes and poles and extra netting next month.

In a later afternoon, in an effort to get things out of the shed and into the ground I have also planted out three clematis Freckles which I took as cuttings last year. Two under the big grape vines in the courtyard and one under a walnut tree on the path up to the top potager. I have no idea if they are all the delicate Freckles white variety, so I may be in for a surprise. I did receive three feebie ones in the middle of last year. But I was never sent any paperwork about which was which. What’s the bet I get some big blousy peach coloured one scrambling up the walnut tree later in the year.

I also had a visit from Nicolas to inspect the asparagus and the poor peaches (some of which appear moribund which is good news. I’d rather plant olives) and discuss work We are now going through the mountain of available workers: Nicolas is too busy, Bernard chopped his finger off and had it re-attached, Olivier is having a crise and cannot take on any project. So I think it’s going to be Zitune in a few weeks time with Bernard supervising (hand in a bandage). If it works I will be delighted. I hate to think of things just languishing until June when Nicolas has more spare time. I even had this mad moment of thinking I should just do the walls myself. But I realised I wouldn’t even get a 35kg bag of cement out of the guest house store room. Let alone carry it to the cement mixer. And just the thought of shovelling fourteen small spade loads of sand into that beast made my back shudder.

Back is too sore to type for long. But here is the summary of a very productive day. All the onions, shallots and garlic are planted out. I have laid a large expanse of rather unattractive weed proof fabric onto a quadrant of the lower vegetable bed. And to cut  the holes into the thick fabric and push through the onion sets felt more like sewing that sowing. But they are done and a painful afternoon’s work will hopefully yield a good supply of veg later. (The garlic up at the top potager is putting on great growth under its weedproof fabric. But I don’t dare inspect too carefully in case they aren’t thriving. I am not going to plant a single bulb more.

I sowed more grass seeds on the bald bits of the lawn, and created another path up between the strawberry bed and the top of the onion bed. It’s too shallow to grow anything but weeds – the bedrock is about two inches below the soil.  So there may be an aesthetic element to the garden yet. Lush green paths, bring em on.

I cut back the crisp sage in the herb garden. And planted about ten little sage seedlings which I had taken as cuttings in September. So amazing that they survived the winter. I also put in five rosemary seedlings which also made it through. And planted two more salvia caradonas plants which were hiding in the shed. If all goes well this particular bed is going to be a blaze of colour in May. The allium purple sensations are already coming up through the cold soil.

To give my back a rest I planted up some sweet corn seeds. I really need to get the broad beans into the ground so I can use the root trainer pots for more corn later this week. Tomorrow I must rake over the last quadrant that has been neglected. I can see the first few weed seeds making an appearance and I need to get that weed proof cover down this week.

A day of discoveries – the rhubarb survived the winter. So too the asparagus. I was watering and cutting back the raspberries and decided to have a good rummage around the top vegetable garden and see what was alive. The cranberries are still extant. A bit wind-blown and crisp, but they relished the buckets of water I have been heaping on them today. And I counted four asparagus spears up already. Naturally they are two years away from being devoured, but it is pleasing to see them.

I had the first afternoon in the garden and just didn’t know where to look it is so vast now that the snow has gone and things are in growth. First up was a mighty watering of all parts the hose would reach. It’s mad that in this farm there is just one tap and one very very long hose. It’s weight lifting work just dragging the whole length around the lawn and edges. Naturally I understand that an indoor tap inside a basement room and fed out a small aperture will save it from being frozen solid and snapped during the cold winter. But it does make for heavy work.

I watered the mâche and land cress under their cloches. And a good thing they are cloched too (is that a suitable use of the word?) Daisy or some passing Ardèche fauna has taken a fancy to a varied diet. My leeks and cabbages have that chewed and scalped look right now. And means I have to do a bit of a rethink on how I am to plant the peas and broad beans. Even I can’t resist pea tips, so who am I to imagine that anyone else won’t find them juicy, succulent and a very tasty treat after a bite of raw leek?

The hose goes as far as the lilac bed and the tulips and narcissus under the wisteria, so everything had a good drink. So exciting to see growth of little shoots in the lilac bed. One small group of bulbs are coming up. But as they seem to be sitting directly under some Russian sage shrubs in my planting plan then they are definite blow ins. Can’t wait to see what they actually are.

The grasses on the bank are showing teensy signs of green. Which is frankly a relief as they have looked like raffia straw bundles for a few weeks now. I must get the rest planted up this week. But that does involve a bit of heavy lifting of all the rocks that impede my design. Strong slave anyone?

And the lupins look to have survived the transplanting from around the back of the potting shed beautifully. I do like the look of promise in this bed. All the plants do need some compost around each small green growth. But the home made compost is sitting way down by the lower potager, about three hundred wheel barrow metres away. And as I am banned from hefty wheelbarrow work for the duration I can’t quite see how I’m going to get it up to the right spot without wasting hours with small loads. Strong slave anyone?

I have unburied the small plants under their blanket of bark chips on the top terraces to give them an easier passage to the light. But things look very promising there.

And here is a surprise. What on earth are these bulbs? I must have planted them in this temporary home first thing last year. And thought I really ought to move them to their well planned and designed home. But I never did. So here’s another clump of bulbs to watch.  Nearby I planted 48 more liatris spicata bulbs. Wonderful colour and good long season. Almost as good as my Agastache plants which are coming up lustily nearby.  More lupins are coming up under the chestnut tree. Dead hopeless place for them. So if I manage to find some time after the vegetable garden work I must transplant them.

I have mislaid the piece of paper where I wrote my first of the day notes, but I also planted up twenty gladiolus bulbs. Ten silverstreet and ten deep red black star. I’m only doing them for height in the monster vase we have in the house and thought the deep reds might do well with the armfuls of cow parsley and euphorbias that we get here in summer. But they may need more moisture and muck that I am prepared to offer them.

And then after lunch and helping Sarah set up her painting studio in the guest house I trotted up to the potting shed to sow and sow and sow.

The seeds sown two weeks ago are mostly up and romping away. And here is the list of the afternoon’s easy toil.

Baby sweet corn
Cucumber (that embarrassingly named Burpless Tasty Green)
Climbing bean blauhilder
Sunflower velvet queen
Yard long Italian climbing beans
Cosmos purity
Rogersia Pinnata
Cleome hassleriana
Marigold red brocade
Scabiosa lachnophylla Blue Horizon
Melon edonis
Cosmos Sensation tall mix
Foxglove milk chocolate
Poppy coral pink
Spring onion Apache deep purple
Berkheya purpurea Zulu Warrior
Spinach Bordeaux

Sorry to mix up the veg and flower seeds in the list. But that is how jumbled my brain is right now. Tomorrow it’s vegetable garden work.

How about this for a plant that survived the winter. These euphorbia wulfennii’s are just lush and vibrant right now. And here is the first blossom on the first tree. It’s the almond that self-sowed in the rock (of all things) under the terrace of the house. No sign of blossom on the cherries. Looks like we will be about two weeks later this year than last.

Being in London and not out working where I ought; I thought it might be of interest to show the library of books that I am currently working through and lists of the seeds that I am hoping will become a garden this year.

The RHS Lindley library is heaven and way too tempting. Luckily it’s a brisk almost hour walk (I always get lost in the side streets of Chelsea and Victoria) so there is a purpose in mooching over there.  I can read all the monthly magazines and not therefore be tempted to invest in them at the newsagents. And best of are the copious shelves of library section 968. Garden design. It means you can study, devour and take notes of all the books you actually want to own.

I have borrowed the Michael King book Perennial Garden this week. But must confess that all the rest of the books here are part of the burgeoning home library. I was on the waiting list for months for the Complete Planting Design Course. And eventually just caved in when a local bookshop had a 30 per cent off sale.

I used to take books out to France thinking that I would study the books in the evening. But the reality is that I am just way too knackered at night to do much more than cook, drink beer and slouch. So they get studied here in London where there are less physical distractions.

And also here are the lists of seeds and plants I have bought over the winter. There has been some mighty ordering of plants from Plantagenet nursery; recommended by Andrew. The order is due on the second day of our Easter visit.  So we have plenty of time to get the 150 grasses into the ground. I have no idea where the Vicar’s Mead will go. But I still have a memory of seeing them years ago in a Matthew Wilson planting scheme; maybe they were at RHS Hyde Hall. Anyway, it’s natural to have a blow out when one is confronted with such treats. And you should have seen the list of things I really wanted to buy. All the rest are part of the promised planting scheme.  And I think the Calamagrostis Karl Foersters are going to be a godsend in uniting some rather disparate areas of the gardens.

I had wanted to order the Aster frikartii Monchs. But was persuaded by Bella Gordon to try these Wunder von staffas instead. They are destined for the lilac bed. So too the rodgersia pinnatas. I have ordered two extra eupatoriums as I can really see them billowing about the steps down from the top of the road and near our rustic chestnut steps. I have some already planted in the terracing on the banks. But they may not thrive.

150 PENNISETUM alopecuroides Hameln
9 ASTER frikartii Wunder von staffa
5 FILIPENDULA rubra Venusta
7 CALAMAGROSTIS x acutiflora Karl foerster
2 EUPATORIUM maculatum Atropurpureum
3 RODGERSIA pinnata Superba
7 ANGELICA Vicar’s mead
9 MISCANTHUS sinensis Gracillimus

So where do all these seeds and bulbs come from? I get my 20 packets of free seeds from the RHS and from the Australasian Plant Society each year; discount bulbs from the great 99p store in Camden (a source of my peacock orchids, lily bulbs, liatris spicata bulbs and astilbe roots.)

The Camden Garden centre is a very honest little nursery where I continue to get discount vouchers (so tempting, so evil). And the Chelsea Gardener which I make a small detour returning from my weekly physio session. What a place. The plant nursery for people with ridiculous budgets. But sometimes it’s just lovely to gaze on things and wish and plan.

And then there is the mail order. Chiltern Seeds for some staples and many interesting flower seeds. Their catalogue is perfect bedtime reading. And I have even gone back to Sarah Raven’s website for her flower seeds. Buying plants from her was a complete bust, and not to be relied upon.  But surely they can’t mess up a seed order?

I have decided to put all that great soil up in the top vegetable bed to use – as a flower cutting garden. Danielle, our neighbour hankers for flowers, as do I. And hopefully I can get a good supply of nice tall plants for our outrageously large vases in the house.  I can see a large planting of euphorbias as good foliage colour. But who knows how the germination will go this year. I lost so many little seedlings from first a mini drought and then weeks of heavy downpours as I had to leave all the little pots outside in the elements for two weeks at a stretch twice in the growing season.  Bernard and Nicolas both helped with some watering, but no one was able to keep a really careful eye on them all when I was away.  Oh for a neighbour who loves plants as much as me. I even found the labels for the Joe Pie Weed that I planted, but never saw a seedling come up.

We have plotted all of our trips out until September and I am aiming to be away for no more longer than 10 days at any one time. That way I may be able to curb this outrageous seed buying in London and just get on with seed planting out in the garden.

Cosmos sensation tall mix
Coral Pink perennial poppy
French marigold Red brocade
Cosmos purity
10 tall gladioli silverstreak
24 Liatris spicata
Astilbe pink
Lupin perennial blue
10 gladioli black star
Sunflower velvet queen
Climbing bean dolico del metro (yard long bean)
Sweet corn baby corn
Ragged robin wild flower (damp soil)
Poppy blackcurrant fizz
Foxglove Milk chocolate
Rudbeckia Green wizard
Rogersia Pinnata
Berkheya Purpurea Zulu Warrior
Scabiosa Lachnophylla Blue Horizon
Cleome hassleriana

Spinach Bordeaux red
Blauilde climbing bean (a gift for Nicolas – purple beans)
Parsnip gladiator
Apache deep purple spring onion
Melon Edonis F1 hybrid (optimist!)
Burpless tasty green cucumber (tremendous success with this variety)

This is the Sarah Raven cutting plant seed collection I have invested in. Hopefully it will arrive in time for me to get things sown before easter.
Antirrhinum Liberty Crimson
Calendula Indian Prince
Cleome Colour Mix (American spider flower) –
Cobaea scandens
Cosmos Purity
Cosmos Dazzler
Erysimum Fire King
Helianthus Chianti
Helianthus Vanilla Ice
Lathyrus Matucana
Lathyrus Painted Lady
Papaver Meadow Pastels
Scabiosa Tall Double Mix
Zinnia Giant Dahlia Mix
Zinnia Envy
Cerinthe major Purpurascens
Amaranthus caudatus Viridis –
Euphorbia oblongata
Salvia viridis Blue
Molucella

A half morning only permitted before a hasty departure to Paris. I woke at 630am to get all the indoor chores completed, and then burst out of the door – kneelers, gloves and trowel at the ready by nine.

Managed the last gassing of the fruit trees with the fungicide.  Must work out how to give these peaches a radical prune. Nicolas has kindly offered to prune the vineyard for us later in the month; perhaps I can beg half an hour of his time for the pesky fruit trees They were so blighted by peach leaf curl last year I will just be frankly relieved to see them looking less blasted and sorry this season. Anything beyond that will be a treat. But they do sit so prominently in front of the house. And I find them a bit of an eyesore as they are so shapeless and straggly.  Nicolas isn’t really free until June as he has two other jobs right now. And naturally things on our property aren’t finished.

Walls almost there, steps to the pool shed only a rough sketch in his head. With luck another neighbour Olivier can step in.  One does tire of unfinished work. And to have things looking less like a building site will be a joy. I find nests of mess build up. And I am one of the worst offenders.

I had another idea as I was hanging about the Calabert today – more a method to hide some of the mess en route to the potting shed. I have sprayed (I know, I know, turning into a chemical monster) the paths either side of the end of the Calabert with the intention of sowing a little wildflower meadow at Easter. And using the messy half-collapsed part before the barn as a receptacle for all the dozens of stones that are lying all over the lower bank.

With only a few hours to get things done I did manage to plant another dozen Pennisetum alopecuroides in the bank above the lawn. That makes 38 in total and it looks a puny effort. But we need to weed before we can go much further along the bank. I was mainly planting up bare earth this morning. But further along the weeds (sorry, original landscaping) is more established.

Felt a pang for leaving – it is spring after all. And I have two crates of small grasses in pots just lurking beside the potting shed and not in the soil. With luck the weather will turn damp and moist while I am away and I can get some of the watering done by the climate rather than the uncertain tap in the cellar.

All week our trusty Meteo France weather website predicted rain so I reserved the morning for sowing seeds for the spring and summer crops. Actually it was overcast and breezy, but not wet. But on I surged up to the shed for some serious seed work regardless. I don’t think the temperature has risen above 12C, but I thought that if all the seeds were sown today then they had a good three weeks to germinate before my return. And naturally when I do return there will be yet one more list of chores to try and fit into a short trip.

And the potatoes are chitting indoors while all this fast action takes place.

Here is the list:
Savoy cabbage
Swiss chard
Kale – Cavallo Nero
Beetroot bolthardy
Basil
Coriander
Echinacaea purpurea  magnus
Agastache liquorice blue
Broad beans
Peas
Greyhound cabbage
Purple sprouting broccoli
White beetroot
Miscanthus sinsensis
Everlasting pea (lathyrus latifolius)
Nasturtium milkmaid
Wildflowers
Deschampsia fluxuosa
Actea rubra

I decided that all the stipas that were sown in the autumn and survived the rather gaspingly cold winter are going to have to come out. There is just no room to spare in there right now.  But where to put them? Well I  suppose the spare shade garden will do for now. Or maybe the bank below the pool? It’s going to take a phalanx of grasses to secure that area – and I don’t have them right now.

I finished the day with yet another session of bark chipping; and filling the holes in the road (well slalom course) that is our road to the house with stones.